Public Domain Movie: The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

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Horror Movie Review

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

The Little Shop of Horrors is a cult classic black comedy. The movie was directed by Roger Corman and has a young Jack Nicholson in the cast. He has a small role as a dental patient with a masochistic love of pain (ouch!).

Ultimately, The Little Shop of Horrors is the tale of a man and his plant. The man is Seymour Krelboyne and he’s harmless enough. It is just a pity the same can’t be said for his plant. Seymour works in a florist shop on skid row that’s owned by the rather brusque Gravis Mushnik. The only other member of the shop’s staff is a young woman called Audrey Fulquard. She is a reasonably attractive girl and Seymour is more than a little enamored with her.

The florist shop is struggling and business is scarce, but it does have a few regular customers. There is, for instance, an old woman who seems to keep burying relatives and offers repeat business to the shop. Stranger still, there is a guy who comes in at lunchtime to munch on a few carnations. The nutritional value of such a meal is questionable, but I suppose his breath would always smell sweet.

Seymour is a very clumsy guy and can never seem to get anything right, although it is not for the want of trying. He is very eager to please, but not so good at the pleasing part. In fact, after one mishap too many, Mushnik fires him. Seymour pleads for his job back and tells Mushnik that he is working on a special plant especially for him. It is—so Seymour claims—a plant the likes of which he will never have seen before. In the end, Mushnik agrees that, if he likes the plant, he will keep Seymour on.

Seymour rushes home and returns with the plant, which is quite small and unusual looking. He calls the plant Audrey, after his colleague, and manages to not only keep his job for a while longer, but to impress Audrey as well.

Unfortunately for Seymour, the plant isn’t exactly thriving and if it dies so will his career prospects. After accidentally pricking his finger, Seymour splashes some blood on the plant and, hey presto, it perks right up, so he keeps on feeding it. There is only so much blood that the bungling florist can spare though, and when the plant starts demanding: “FEED ME!” Seymour must find an alternative source of food.